Chapter Seven of "Under One Roof"
By, MissyMay10
Chapter Seven:
My Appointment's in the Prophet!
"Draco! She is evil and I refuse to leave my sons with her. She would scar them for life!"
"She is my mother Ginevra. How do you hate her so much? She raised me and kept me safe from my father, from Voldemort, and the Death Eaters. The boys might be fond of her if you didn't act like she was poison."
"I'm sorry Draco." Her chocolate brown eyes poured into his icy blue ones. "I won't. I simply won't. We can take them to Mum, Bill and Fleur, Tonks, Percy and Kaiya, Fred and Alicia, George and Katie, Ron and Hermione, Harry even! But never will I leave them with that horrid woman." This was something she felt vigorously fierce about. The woman had always loathed Ginny and her children even more so, and she didn't want to put her three sons under her wrath or influence. It was bad enough that they lived on her property.
"Of course you would rather the children be with the Great Harry Potter than their own grandmother! I cannot believe you. I'm leaving for work; maybe I'll be back tonight. Who knows?" He glared at her frigidly.
"Draco, don't you dare leave like this…" But it was too late, he had already gone, and Ginny still wasn't going to give in.
Ginny awoke with a start, sweat dripping down her face. If there is any God out there, please take these memories from me. This wasn't the first time Ginny had relived the words she'd said to Draco only a day and a half before he died. It put butterflies in her stomach to know that they had been uneasy with each other the day he died.
She decided to take a shower before leaving the room so to feel cleansed, even in the slightest way. After doing so she went through the hall and stairway thinking of how much Grimmauld Place had improved since coming here for the first time. No longer was there house elf heads or torches on the walls, but photos of Harry and the Weasleys and drawings from all the children. They were also the bright colors of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, rather than dark and Slytherin-like.
For breakfast Ginny went all out. Her cravings were raging from one thing to the next, so she just cooked it all. Mouth watering sausages, rich and fluffy pancakes, eggs of scramble, easy-side-up, and hard boiled. Crunchy bacon, over-buttered toast, and freshly squeezed pumpkin juice.
"Good morning Ginny, morning boys." Harry yawned as he sat down to the table grabbing a glass of pumpkin juice as he did. "This looks delicious, thanks Gin." He grabbed the Daily Prophet from a swooping owl and called Dobby to ask if he would give the owl a treat. The two were absolutely shocked when they saw the head lines and front picture! Molly Weasley was going to be appalled!
Harry Potter Set to Replace Draco Malfoy?
The title and picture (Virginia Weasley-Malfoy, her sons: Draak Malfoy, five, Andreas Malfoy, three, and Charles Malfoy, one, and Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, Triwizard Champion, Order of Merlin: First Class, explain themselves quite clearly. Our little Mrs. Malfoy, wife of the late Draco Malfoy, is squirming her way into the life of yet another beloved rich and famous man just over two weeks after her husband has passed. This Weasley gold-digger was seen yesterday afternoon at St. Mungoes Hospital with our adored Mr. Potter for an appointment of her and her unborn child. The two (Mr. Harry Potter and Mrs. Virginia Malfoy) entered the office of Dr. J. k. Johnson1 together, and it is a well known fact that only family and father's are allowed in these appointments. You may rest assured that Mr. Potter is not the former, but is it possible that he is the ladder?
We, as supporters of Mr. Harry Potter, must presume that if Mr. Potter had an affair with Virginia before the death of her late husband that it is the fault of hers, and hers alone. We recognize that Mr. Potter is both a reputable and an admirable man and is most certainly not one to take advantage or help in an act of impureness, but we can only hope, though it is very doubtful, that this is an honest and just mistake on the part of the press.
Looking out for our Savior,
Ms. Jennifer Allonyms
1Name changed for personal reasons
Ginny was seething, how did she take a personal moment in which I needed comfort and insult me, my sons, Draco, and Harry! "I say we go down there and give that little liar a piece of our minds. She is such a prick making us look dreadful and her so… so innocent!"
"We should tell them that they need to correct your name. Virginia and Ginevra are two exceedingly different words." Ginny, though she had been tearing up, sniffled at this. If Harry wasn't going to take this personal, then neither would she. The picture was when she had, naively by the way, laid her head on his shoulder.
"Well, I'm off to work. Feel free to start setting up the nursery on the top floor anytime you like. Jotly could watch the boys and Dobby will do any think you wish. I'm sure your Mum and any sisters not working would love to help, and are always welcome to stay for dinner. I think Dahlia and Thalia will be staying the night, and maybe tomorrow as well; Tonks is leaving on a mission this afternoon. It would be nice if you could ask Dobby to check up on their rooms when he's done helping you."
"Absolutely, it sounds great, I'll start planning immediately. Ata will do all the daily house stuff then. I don't think she will mind. Have a pleasant day at work!"
"Thanks, I'm sure I will. Bye guys." He motioned to the boys. Each of them grunted and continued their breakfasts.
Ginny hastily folded and put the paper in the bin and called in Jotly.
"Yes Mistress Ginny? Jotly at your service!"
"Would you please watch the boys? They just need to finish up breakfast and then if you wouldn't mind dressing them. Draak can roam outside; just keep an eye out for him. He is under no circumstances allowed to leave the grounds or get on a broom. Stay with the other two, but they should each go down for a catnap around one thirty, they had a late night last night. Thanks a bunch!"
"Course, Jotly will do's this. Anything else you need Mistress Ginny?" She tilted her head up towards Ginny.
"No thanks. If you or they should need me I'll be up on the top floor."
"Right Ms. Ginny, you go on ahead." Everything appeared alright so Ginny decided to go floo her mum.
Molly showed up around nine, and Tonks and her girls rang the doorbell precisely two hours later with shrunken baggage in tow.
"Hello Tonks! Come on in." Ginny welcomed her kissing Dahlia then Thalia on the heads. "How are the three of you?"
"Bored, bored, bored! Mum's had us at her office all morning long. We told her that you and Uncle Harry would love to have the joy of us a few hours early, but someone thought differently." That had been Lea, the twin who was most like Tonks; outgoing, funny, and very clumsy! She could also change her looks at will.
Doll was similar to Charlie, a bit more reserved, intelligent, and a great seeker! She also, like Charlie, looked like a Weasley in every way possible. She had the freckles and the ever impractical vivid red hair. In a way it was dire forcing yourself to Doll, but then at second glance you would be delighted you did, because you could see all the wonderful characteristics that you missed terribly of Charlie's.
"Well, of course, Harry said you are welcome any time, for as long as you want." Thalia gave Tonks a look-at-that-so-hah expression. "The boys are out in the back with Jotly, you two can go on back. Help yourselves to the kitchen!" She yelled, as they were already three rooms away. Ginny sighed, "So, you didn't answer my question. How are you?"
"Jolly, this is the usual. Listen, Ginny, if you need anything-"
"Stop, right there, Tonks. I am absolutely fine, and I don't need anything. Please don't ask." Ginny's eyes were no bigger that slits in a piece of paper. Everyone had been tiptoeing around her for weeks, and she was fine!
"Alright, but if you do, just remember, I've been where you are now. It took me a long time to get over Charlie, especially because I thought I had to be strong for the girls. It's okay to ask for some help every once in a while."
"I know Tonks, and if I need anything, not that I think I will, you'll be the first to know. Besides, I'm living here, aren't I? Now, would you like some tea and biscuits? Mum and I could take a break if you have some time to chat."
"Sorry, much as I'd love to catch up I need to get to the office. I'll go say bye to the girls and apparate away. Far as I know I won't be home until late Sunday night, Harry should be notified if that changes. Thanks so much, I hope they won't be much trouble." She bid her daughters farewell and left Grimmauld Place in an instantly.
"Ginny, dear did you want the snack table to be in the playroom or a different room?" She heard her mother ask.
"I think it would be best if we had a snack room off of one of the other rooms, don't you?"
"Yes, I believe that to be best, I'll conjure one up then." The upstairs had a nursery, for the smallest babies with bouncy seats and cribs; a playroom, for the older ones on Wednesday's and Friday's, or if her and Harry had kids over for the weekend with a few toys and books; and a snack room connecting the other two rooms, but was very sound proof for sleeping children on either side.
Mother and daughter finished off the three rooms just in time to eat the lunch prepared by Dobby and Harry's other house elf, Ata. Ata was a young female elf Dobby had befriended sometime during the war that worked at Harry's in return for room and a few galleons a month. The two together had prepared fresh roast beef sandwiches, croissants, and cauldron cakes along with some butterbeer and pumpkin juice.
The seven ate; the boys enjoyed it very much, because they almost never got Grandmum Molly to themselves! They always had to share with an endless number of cousins, rather than just Lea and Doll.
Molly left, leaving Ginny with her three sons and the eight year old girls. "Are you two excited for Aunt Hermione to start teaching?" They nodded there heads vigorously.
"Aunt Hermy is the best! You'll love our play time, Draak. Sometimes she transforms into a cat and plays with us!" Hermione would never live that name down. When Lea and Doll had been toddlers they couldn't even begin to say her whole name, so they called her Hermy. When there cousins began to talk it caught on, so now all of the children called her Aunt Hermy.
"Transfigures Lea, not transforms. It's called an Animagus." Ginny corrected her niece.
"Right, that. Last year she even let Uncle Ron and Harry come in and helps us with our toy brooms. She wouldn't let us ride our own though, that was too bad it would've been good practice. For everyone else of course, I'm not allowed on a broom until Hogwarts, just cause that one time!" Lea, clumsy-lumsy-lea, had taken a fall her first time on a real broom and almost snapped her neck, both Tonks and Molly had forbidden her to go up on one ever again without proper instruction. She had scared every one out of their wits.
"Well I'm sure it was still fun to watch the other kids." Ginny reached down to the play pen where Charlie was sleeping and picked him up. He was getting fussy. "You guys stay here; I'm going to put him down. Please watch Andre for me." She said to Jotly and the twins. Halfway up the stairs Ginny heard the doorbell ring. "Dobby, get that, if you would!" She hurried and set the baby in his playpen and jogged down stairs.
She was surprised upon seeing who it was, "Percy! Come in, what can I do for you?" Her third big brother was standing, sopping wet in the doorway.
"Hello Ginny." He gently kissed the top of her head, "Yes indoors would be wonderfully pleasant. Hullo children. Tonks isn't here, is she?" He questioned, looking pointedly at the girls.
"No, no she left hours ago. Dahlia and Thalia are staying with us for the weekend. Can I get you a cuppa? Are you hungry? A warming charm on your coat perhaps?" She asked in a Molly-Weasley-like fashion and didn't even wait for a reply. She magicked him dry and warm, and put a pot on the kitchen stove.
He followed her into the parlor, "No, no, I don't want to be any trouble Gin. I'll take the tea, but nothing else please. Can we talk somewhere private?" She nodded yes and led him out of the entryway. "How are you and the kids?"
She stared at him intently, "We are fine, brilliant, superb even. The house has been good for the boys, and they'll be glad when nursery school starts up. At least I know I'll be glad." They shared a laugh.
"They do have so much energy. Did Kaiya tell you? We got a new nanny. She will be a live in until the kids start school with you and Hermione, but after that just Friday evening until Sunday morning. The kids will still be coming to you during the day I believe." Ginny smirked; Percy and Kaiya constantly hired and fired nannies. It was a great joke between all of the family.
"Good for the two of you. Hopefully your children will take to this one a little easier." Percy grimaced, as if to show he had no hope. His three kids didn't like new people. "Now, I'm positive that this wasn't what you came here to talk about. As important as nursery school and nannies are you aren't the drop-in sort of guy Percy."
"You're right. I'll tell you, but you might want to sit down." The color drained from her face. She was white as a sheet. The last time she had been told that she needed to take a seat someone had told her that her husband was dead.
"Percy, I don't need to sit. What's going on? Tell me what you came here to say, now."
"It's Harry, Ginny. He's been hurt on his mission. He's in St. Mungoes," Ginny let out a sob, what had happened to him? Please don't let him die too!
A/N- This is much longer than the previous chapters, and I feel like I have improved quite a bit. Let me know your opinion!